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Gretel Killeen to host ACMA public forum

Gretel Killeen will host a public forum as media watchdog ACMA seeks input on classification, decency, accuracy, fairness, advertising and privacy codes.

2013-06-04_1941Gretel Killeen will host a public forum on behalf of the Australian Communications and Media Authority as part of a major review of its broadcasting codes of practice, to ensure they reflect community safeguards.

Public forums on classification, decency, accuracy, fairness, advertising and privacy will be held in Sydney across June beginning from Thursday (registration is required).

These will also be webcast nationally.

The Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA) establishes a framework that combines direct regulation through standards and legislation with co-regulation through the development and registration of industry codes. Before registration, industry codes must demonstrate that they provide appropriate community safeguards for the matters they cover.

What constitutes ‘appropriate community safeguards’ varies according to the degree of influence that different types of broadcasting services are able to exert in shaping community views. Community values and expectations alter over time, as societal norms shift. The media environment and technological changes have caused, and continue to cause major paradigm shifts in the way Australians live their lives.

The inquiry will help in industry reviews of the commercial radio and television codes of practice, which form an important part of the contemporary co-regulatory regime for these sectors and broadcasting more generally.

The inquiry will:
1. Examine the matters and community safeguards that should be appropriately addressed in program-related codes of practice developed by Australian broadcasters, having regard to:
· community experiences and expectations
· changes to broadcasting technologies and business models
with a view to consolidating ACMA insights and developing guidance for broadcasters on such matters and community safeguards.

2. Where appropriate, consider any related issues that become apparent in the course of the inquiry.

The ACMA does not propose, as part of this inquiry, to examine the Children’s Television Standards or the Australian—save to the extent that these interact with codes of practice.
The ACMA will adopt an evidence-informed approach to examining what constitutes appropriate community safeguards, including canvassing the views of industry and citizens. Accordingly, we welcome your input at any of the key consultation stages set out below.

1. The ACMA will be releasing an issues paper by the end of June and will be seeking submissions from all interested stakeholders.
The ACMA’s own research and regulatory experience, and recent relevant work conducted by other agencies and stakeholders, provide a solid body of information about community values and expectations. The issues paper will build on this framework and our starting point will be to identify those areas that would benefit from additional input and discussion.
The issues paper will pose a series of questions or propositions that may help an interested stakeholder to structure their contribution.

2. As a key part of its consultation, the ACMA will convene a series of Citizens conversations to seek input from the community and industry. These conversations will be about practical problems in the broadcasting media, in areas such as:
· factual accuracy
· balance and fairness
· privacy
· classification and community standards for decency and advertising.
We expect both the industry and citizens to express valuable perspectives during these forums.

3. A draft final report will be issued for consultation in the second half of this year.
The ACMA’s Contemporary community safeguards inquiry is examining the core principles that should guide the content of broadcasting codes of practice.

To help inform this inquiry, the ACMA is hosting a series of citizen conversations.
The themes for the public forums are classification, decency, accuracy, fairness, advertising and privacy. There is also a workshop for broadcasters on the handling of complaints under the codes of practice.

Each forum will feature contributions from subject matter experts, academics, practitioners and other industry stakeholders.
All the forums will be held at the ACMA’s Sydney office in Pyrmont. The public forums will also be streamed live on the web.
The forums are free of charge but registration is essential. Only a limited number of places are available.

Thursday 6 June 2013
Classification and the time-shifting audience
Speakers will include Julie Flynn, CEO of Free TV Australia
8.30 am – 1.00 pm
More details here
Decency
Journalist and broadcaster Gretel Killeen will speak and then host a Q&A session at this event
12.30 pm – 5.00 pm

Wednesday 12 June 2013
Complaints-handling workshop (industry-only event)
8.30 am – 1.30 pm

Tuesday 18 June 2013
Getting the facts right: accuracy
8.30 am – 1.00 pm
Fairness, balance and significant viewpoints
12.30 pm – 5.00 pm

Tuesday 25 June 2013
Advertising and the changing world
8.30 am – 1.00 pm
Privacy
12.30 pm – 5.00 pm

More details here.

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4 Responses

  1. I find this a bit ironic considering she hosted Big Brother for all those years.

    @Mark W, I was watching that, I like Gretel and all, but seriously, what on Earth was up with that? Then she refused to say if she agreed or disagreed with Pauline…?!

  2. All those who feel ACMA will adopt even a modicum of what concerns the community, please raise your hand. ACMA never has, and never will do anything in the public interest.

  3. None of which the community gives a damn about. Only vocal minority lobby groups.

    What viewers are complaining about is the inability choose what they want to watch because of late running shows and inaccurate (or outright deceitful) TV guides.

    The ACMA claims this is none of their business and it is for the market to sort out. But the market can’t function if viewers are deprived of accurate information and the ability to select programmes on different networks due to late running shows.

    There only real choice is to watch shows in some other fashion. Something that technology is making easier to do all the time.

  4. Bit doubtful about Gretel.
    The other day on channel 9 she was saying she likes Pauline Hansen because she’s honest..
    I think Gretel forgot Pauline’s “honest” attempt to state when she was in Parliament that Aboriginals were cannibals, when in fact they weren’t.

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